James F. Yacone, Director

James F. Yacone serves as the Assistant Director for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In this role, he oversees global critical incident response personnel and resources for crisis management, tactical operations, crisis negotiations, hostage rescue, WMD and improvised explosive device mitigation, intelligence, surveillance, and aviation, behavioral and cyber threat assessments, active shooter response, and special events management. Mr. Yacone joined the FBI in 1995 as a Special Agent. He was first assigned to the Philadelphia Division, where he investigated violent drug trafficking organizations, organized crime, and finical institution fraud. He was later selected to serve with the Critical Incident Response Group as a member of the Hostage Rescue Team. During his tenure there, Mr. Yacone was promoted to Supervisory Special Agent and later Unit Chief, where he was deployed to multiple critical incidents and major investigations around the world in support of the global fight against terrorism

In 2006, Mr. Yacone was appointed Chief of the FBI’s Aviation and Surveillance Branch. In this position he implemented a strategic aircraft replacement plan to upgrade and standardize the FBI’s diverse fleet of airplanes and helicopters and focused on enhancing the FBI’s ground surveillance cadre. Mr. Yacone was later selected by Director Mueller to lead a strategic merger to consolidate a large number of personnel and assets into a unified Surveillance and Aviation Section. He was appointed to serve as the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Colorado a d Wyoming. Concurrent with his responsibilities as SAC, Mr. Yacone was appointed by the Director of National Intelligence to be the Domestic DNI Representative, which involved coordinating the efforts of the U.S intelligence community for a nine-state region

Mr. Yacone graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering and has a Master of Science in criminal justice from Virginia Commonwealth University. He served eight years in the U.S Army and is a decorated combat veteran with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. His highest military awards include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and multiple Air Medals with Valor Device, the Humanitarian Service Award and the Purple Heart.